Every student with an aptitude for science, has a dream to unlock the doorway to their dream institution. The big Indian IIT dream is sold by coaching institutes like hot cakes. Parents want to send their children to IITs to ensure a bright future for them that “Brand IIT” has come to symbolise.

That being said, JEE is a tough nut to crack and is unlike any other exam. JEE is much unconventional as it has no fixed question pattern, nor are the questions set from a particular set of books. The exam is essentially designed to test your analytical skills and conceptual abilities, along with the obvious understanding of the subjects, calculations and attentiveness.

Getting admission to the IITs is believed to be only for the 'Highly Intelligent Minds’ and the acceptance rate at the IITs is less than 1%, which speaks volumes of how challenging the JEE examinations are.

While hard work and dedication is important, it is important to have proper guidance which cannot be ignored. Coaching institutes demand hundreds of thousands of Rupees of your hard-earned money; while some struggle to pay it, there are millions who simply can’t afford to spend so much on education. So, like in many phases of life, poverty wins over passion and desire.

Not every Superhero wears a cape

While millions would write pages upon pages on how clearing JEE is the most difficult task after school, there is one man who is making life a lot easier for students. Rightfully known as the ‘Maths Wizard’, Anand Kumar has influenced many lives through his innovative and unique educational initiative, ‘Super 30’. Founded in 2002, the institute trains 30 meritorious students from underprivileged sections of the society for the JEE exams every year. Anand Kumar, who himself faced numerous hardships, has changed hundreds of lives, by being a friend, philosopher, guide and teacher through his unique pedagogy and style. Over the past 16 years, around 500 Super 30 students from humble backgrounds have cleared the JEE Mains. Super 30 has made sure that students from humble backgrounds get a fair chance to compete with the best and lay their path to a brighter tomorrow.

Understanding the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’

Mathematics and Science phobias, a morbid fear of the subjects, grips millions of students, stopping them from tackling problems in these subjects. It is this fear that makes the subjects the students don’t feel they need to learn, but endure. Many just learn-by-rote through each lesson, dutifully following the template for solving each problem, without ever understanding what a “function” or “relation” or any of the “Laws of Motion” actually was. What a lot of people fail to understand is that this approach is as important as one’s intellect.

Any subject is fun if the basics are understood the right way. A mathematical problem should have a plan, to begin with. Dividing it into sub-problems, using analogy, comparing it with similar instances, trying to find a pattern in a problem are some methods to simplify the subject.

Instead of just dragging themselves through chapters, students need to understand the value of ‘how’ and ‘why’. As it’s said, ‘understanding a problem is half of the solution’, getting to know the hows and why nots makes problems not only look easier, but also interesting.

Super30 eligibility? Passion, Desire and Motivation

Anand Kumar too faced hardships that his students face and understand how difficult it is to give up on one’s dreams just because of their poor economic backgrounds. If a student is passionate about learning and his education, he is motivated to compete with the best, nothing should come in between him and his dreams.Passion, Desire and Motivation are what Anand Kumar expects from his students. He wants his students to focus on the learnings and not the lucrative package that a degree from IITs can get you.

Expanding the Universe for the underprivileged

While Super30 is one of the most wonderful initiatives that ever happened to the education sector, Anand Kumar’s expertise is limited to the borders of Bihar. Realizing the inaccessibility to high quality coaching for the millions of IIT-JEE aspirants in the country due to issues of access and affordability, Anand Kumar has joined hands with iScholar to launch the i30 program. Anand Kumar, along with his qualified team, has worked closely with iScholar to design a real-time library for students enrolling in i30. This library will have high quality course work and mock tests. Students can attend live tuitions and have interactive sessions with Anand Kumar and well-known faculty from the IITs and other reputed engineering institutions. The purpose of the tie-up was to break down the demographic and financial barriers and provide quality education to the millions who are devoid of proper guidance. The initiations have paid dividends as 85% of the enrolled students in the i30 program are from tier II and tier III cities.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house